Magical Tinker Lyrical Taylor
by Twiggy-Hoyden
Summary: A different past leads to a different future, and when Taylor discovers her Mother's legacy nothing will be the same again. In a world of Heroes and Villains, Monsters and Madness, will she stand true to her legacy, or will Darkness engulf all?
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Disclaimer

Worm was created by J. McCrae aka Wildbow

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha was created by Masaki Tsuzuki.

I just mashed their two worlds together.

They are both pretty awesome, you should really check them out.

(why would anyone read fanfiction when they haven't seen the original work)

Punch, one, two, jump back, high kick, sweep, roll out, punch two, one, two, dodge left. The moves flowed seamlessly, a deadly dance of foot and fist, elbow and knee, blade and baton. The winter air whistled softly with each move, frost crunched lightly underfoot in the pre-dawn light. The pace slowed, and with a deep breath and a bow to her imaginary opponent Taylor ended her early practice session. She'd been spending more and more time practising since, since it happened. Self defence her father called it. He'd stopped practising almost completely since Annette, her mother, his wife, died.

It had been Annette who'd introduced the family to martial arts, or Strike Arts as she'd called it. Brutal, meditative, full of hard strikes both armed and unarmed, but always ready to move, to flow from motion to motion, always focused, inwards, the motion of muscle and bone, outwards, from the ground beneath to the sky above, the motion of the wind to the rustle of leaves. The Trio had stepped up their game, again. They'd backed off after The Locker, after the school had been forced to take notice, not that it stopped anything, or any of them got in trouble. Taylor shook her head gently. A prank gone too far, kids being kids, no witnesses. She wondered if the school would have taken more notice if she actually been locked inside that, that filth.

But years of training had kicked in. Sophia's shove deflected easily, grasping hands turned aside. Sophia was the easiest of the Trio to deal with, always shoving, attempting to trip, physical intimidation that always just fell short of the mark. She half wished Sophia was a boy, then it'd be easier, a fight wouldn't be judged as harshly. But then, it hadn't helped Danny so much. Her father had spent three weeks doing community service after he'd broken up a drunken brawl. One of the men had money and influence, she'd spent a week with social services as a result. No she, as a trained martial artist, was expected to avoid confrontation, that fighting would result in expulsion or suspension at the very least, and given that Emma's father was a lawyer, it would probably be worse.

Of the other bullies, Madison fit somewhere in the middle. Annoying, irritating but, again, nothing that would excuse fighting. Her "pranks" tended towards childish; juice spilt on her seat, glue on her table, spit-balls. Disgusting, but nothing that couldn't be waved off as a "harmless prank" by the teachers. Emma was the worst. Years of friendship, of sharing hopes and dreams, fears and nightmares, had given her everything she needed to hurt, and humiliate. It was never physical with Emma, nor did she need to ruin her homework, or damage her possessions. No, Emma could cut her with nothing but words. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will surely kill me. But even as the Trio ramped up their bullying campaign, it became easier to deal with them. The isolation at school didn't hurt as much, the "pranks" were more easily avoided, and Emma, Emma was running out of hurtful words. She'd repeated herself earlier this week. It was almost pitiable, like a dog chasing it's own tail back and forth, biting and yelping in pain, only to start again moments later with the same result.

The backyard had become her gym, moves and sequences became faster, more fluid, natural. She'd been working on some of the moves her mother had done, half remembered motions copied, experimented with, turning memories into actions into Art. Backflips, cartwheels, moves that wouldn't have been out of place in a wire fu film. Stretching out as she started around the house, moving smoothly into a slow jog, once around the block, before picking up speed as she turned towards the boardwalk, her hair streaming behind as she raced the rising sun. With dawn starting earlier each day it made an effective training regime.

The sky was painted red and the sun just coming over the horizon when she reached her chosen endpoint, a fried food van that served as breakfast for many of the working class of the Bay. The vendor gave her a hearty wave. She'd been ending her outward leg here often enough to be a regular. A cup of tea sat on the counter awaiting her, a few coins took it's place as she walked back and forth to stay loose for her run home. "Danke". She took a meditative pose, balanced on the back of a bench, barely two inches wide, eyes closed as she breathed in time with the pulse of the world, the steady thrum that had been her constant companion for as long as she could recall, focusing on it, drawing it in, and holding it close, just as her mother taught her.  
This was something the Trio couldn't take from her, something that no one could take from her as long as she lived. She waved to the former dock workers she recognised as she started home, a small grin playing at her lips.  
Soon she'd be setting Winslow behind her too. The transfer papers hadn't been hard to get, nowhere near as hard as Principal Blackwell implied. All it took was going around her. Arcadia had wanted her before, on her academic merits. All the local schools had wanted her, the maths prodigy who'd been taking high school level classes in middle school. They remembered who she was, even if Blackwell had seemingly forgotten.

She hadn't wanted Arcadia back then, back when being close to Emma had been a good thing, they'd planned to go to college together, share a flat off campus, be at each other's weddings. Childish dreams of friendship forever. It had been for those dreams she'd endured that first year at Winslow, hoping that Emma would come to her senses, that friendship would overcome whatever adversity had been set against it.

This year she'd given up hope of having her friend, best friend, back, and started making enquiries about transferring out, first to her homeroom teacher, Mrs Knott, who passed her to the administration office, who brought in Principal Blackwell, who shot the idea down within moments, in a bored manner. Everyone wanted to go to Arcadia, it's where Wards went to school, it got the most funding and would open doors to many top ranked Colleges across the country.

That might have been the end of it, had The Locker not happened. It showed a pattern of escalation that made Taylor uncomfortable, one that would leave her having to defend herself with force, ruining an otherwise spotless record. No, she'd gone around Blackwell, dug out the information Arcadia had sent, and now here it was, her escape, her chance to shine. She just had to stay out of trouble for the rest of the year and then she'd be free of them.

She was beyond them, above their petty attempts to bring her down. There was nothing they could do to hurt her now, not anymore. The best revenge is life well lived, and she would have hers in spades.


	2. Chapter 2

She was wrong, they had something that could hurt her. Arcadia, that had been her goal, getting out and getting on with her life. They'd known, somehow they'd known she was escaping, moving on with her life, rising above them, and out of petty spite they had struck a devastating blow. They hadn't even struck against her directly. No, instead they had gone not after her homework, clothes, or time they targeted her reputation, not by calling her names, or spreading rumours.

The leather glove creaked. It wasn't really leather, but instead something thousands of times more durable. Combat Equipment, Layers of fields and barriers exploiting a quantum dimensional interface rejection reaction, filtered through her Linker Core. No, it wasn't important anymore, the trio hadn't won, they had set her free. It hadn't felt like it at the time, being led out of the school in handcuffs, the polite letter from Arcadia reminding her of their zero tolerance policy highlighting the stain on her record. None of that mattered now, a soft chime sounded in agreement from the visor wrapping around her skull.

Gesichtskreis popped up mana flow and barrier ablation rates, temperature deviation and a wealth of other information, always sorting itself, never cluttering or obstructing her vision. It was a technological marvel that she was sure would leave tinkers drooling with the possibilities, and it had spent the last two years, ever since her mother died, in the basement gathering dust. She'd never known her mother was a cape, never even suspected it, but the proof was undeniable. A basement workshop filled with all manner of strange and unusual looking tools, and a strange pendant floated in a glowing cradle. The quintessential tinker's workshop.

[Scan abgeschlossen Kaiserin]

Time to move, she dropped off the edge of the roof she'd been sitting on, prismatic shields caught her before gently setting her on the sidewalk. It wasn't strictly necessary, given her Combat Equipment's base capabilities, and failing that her own magically enhanced capabilities. Magic, you could cover it in as many scientific terms as you like, but it all boiled down to enforcing your will upon the world with nothing but a thought. Well that was a lie, it was a lot more complicated than that if you wanted to do anything halfway useful. But lighting up like a glowbug, that was incredibly easy. She had become one of those capes, the ones that claim their powers are magical in nature, the ones everyone quietly mocked. Was this how Myrddin felt? Knowing actually knowing how your powers work and facing ridicule for it.

[Kaiserstraße]

Her duster billowed out behind as she moved, side streets passing by in a near blur, two steps and a gentle kick off had her back on the rooftops. Gravel crunched lightly as she moved along the rooftops, a single step per building, almost flying. Graffiti tags littered the buildings here, swastikas' and triple Es shared space with racial slurs. Empire territory, white business owners paid protection, everyone else were forced out. Or killed. Brockton Bay, a city with crime statistics high enough to skew the national average. A place where you were more likely to experience gang related violence than not. She'd been lucky some might say, her only experience of gang violence was at the hands of Emma's groupies. She'd started thinking of them as a gang ever since their latest stunt, the way they avoided punishments and twisted things around reeked of connections. It was almost impressive, how quickly they'd ended her Arcadia dreams. Prevented her escape, laid a black mark on her previously spotless school record.

[Illegale Aktivitäten festgestellt]

A warehouse highlighted in her vision, warmer than the surrounding buildings by a large amount, a heavily armoured door that was swinging closed on a small group of skinheads. Small windows opened on Gesichtskreis's visor highlighting E88 style tattoos, along with general meanings for some of the more obscure ones.

[Hörrohr]

Shouting, cheering, the clamor of a large gathering of bodies, it would have sounded like a boxing match if it wasn't for the barking. Gesichtskreis dutifully ran a tally in the background as she continued her approach, at least thirty dogs maybe even more. Some of the sounds were painful to listen to, animals in pain. A dog fighting ring, so much for the Empire's claims at being more civilised than the other gangs. Taylor swallowed back the bile that threatened to spring forth at the thought of a dogfighting ring. Disgusting.

[Anschluss an Kommunikationsknoten]

"BBPD, how can we help?"

The operator's voice was calm and crystal clear, despite the lack of phone to her ear.  
Her report was short and to the point  
"Empire Eighty Eight dogfighting ring Sixth and Ocean Drive."  
"Ma'am, are you in danger?"  
"No, I'm putting an end to this"  
"Ma'am ple…"

She cut the operator off, before leaping onto the warehouse's slopped tin roof. She took a moment to catch her breath, did she really want to do this, a pained yelp below answered the unvoiced question. A thunderous crash and breaking glass showered around her body as she fell. She landed in the middle of the ring, between the two startled and bloody dogs in a perfect three point landing.

"What the Fuck!"

[Blitzwirkung]

She Moved, and the speaker, a six foot mass and muscle and fat spun before toppling. Out cold.

[Vorsicht! Massen Waffen erkannt]

She spun, kicking a shotgun up as it discharged, sliding inside the skinhead's reach before sending him to dreamland with a casual backhand. No time to stop, she danced through the quickly panicking crowd, largely ignoring the throng, targeting anyone with a firearm, she wasn't gentle with her takedowns, focusing on speed over gentleness. The air was filled with high pitched shrill screaming as an attractive blonde's arm acquired an extra elbow, right on top of her 88 ball tattoo. A teenager with a fancy looking butterfly knife had his hand was smashed with the same kick that disarmed him. Taylor entered an almost meditative state, the moves that had before only been practiced against her shadow flowed easily, the warehouse turned from a gang fortress into a bludgeoning whirlwind of pain.

[Alle Feinde eliminiert Kaiserin]

She glanced around, finding herself the only person standing in the open space of the warehouse, the door banged lightly in the salty breeze. The floor covered in groaning bodies, only a few had broken bones, the ones that had been armed. The rest merely bruised. The dogs that had been fighting had fled into the night air. And there, in the corner, lockbox next to a huge blackboard full of aggressive sounding names, along with odds. Tickets littered the floor, sharing space with a small sea of green. Money, quite a bit of it, with more maybe in that lockbox. The reason she'd gone out in the first place. Tinkers might be able to pull of outlandish tricks out of their hat, but making the hat was more expensive, and time consuming than anything she'd ever read. Sure there were pages and pages of speculation on the next new feature Armsmaster was going to have in his halberd. But hardly any wondering how long it took to build said feature. An empowered stomp had the lockbox open, neat stacks of notes, divided by denomination sat next to little parcels of white powder. The money she took, the drugs and lockbox were dumped back in the corner.

Now all she had to do was wait for the police to come and she could go home.


	3. Chapter 3

Three hours, three hours! No wonder the gangs are taking over Taylor thought irritably. The boards of the boardwalk creaked softly underfoot as she made her way past the tourist areas. The buildings looking slightly less well cared for, a heavily shuttered shop her destination. PHO had guided her actions today. Tinkers tended towards electronics stores, hardware stores, or junk yards. Buying odd numbers of unconnected items. Most were caught at that stage, either by the PRT, or more likely here in the Bay, a gang. Independent heroes don't last long on their own. Independent Tinkers don't survive so for even half that long.

She wasn't a Tinker, not really. She was just following the plans Annette had drawn up. But she could see how her mother had avoided the pitfalls associated with acquiring the materials she needed. The small jewelers kit beside the remains of a TV that looked slightly newer than the one in the living room. Logical purchases in reasonable amounts, that was the trick. People buy things all the time and no one takes note, unless you buy odd combinations that is. Gesichtskreis was filled with notes in the odd script her mother had taught her, Belkan, she reminded herself. Pages and pages of tricks to avoid detection she'd used over the years. Finding her mother's basement workshop had been a surprise, discovering she wasn't a tinker was even more shocking.

She shook herself out of the recollection and pressed the buzzer to let the shopkeeper know she was there. She'd called ahead as her mother's notes suggested. The jeweler let her in with only a glance at her school ID, the door locking itself behind her. The jeweler, a middle aged man with stubbly,graying ginger hair, Mr Dynamite. Gesichtskreis helpfully reminded her telepathically.

"Miss Hebert, a pleasure to meet you"

He had a pleasant voice and a strong grip. Despite looking somewhat rundown.

"It's good to meet you Mr Dynamite, my mother spoke highly about you in her journals."

That was her excuse, a wealthy introvert, trying to reconnect with a dead parent via their old hobby. She'd dressed the part, an earlier trip the the mall had yielded designer look alike clothes. The prices would have made her wince and walk away before. But after hitting that dogfighting ring she was flush with cash. For the moment at least.

"Yes, I was saddened to hear of Annette's passing, she was always coming in, trading in her latest attempts for more raw materials. I even sold a few as they were to tell the truth, but she was a perfectionist if ever I saw one"

That explained where all the failed components went. Probably strung around a bored upper middle class neck. The wearer utterly oblivious to the marvel of technology they wore. The thought brought a smile to Taylor's face, thankfully mistaken for pleasure that her mother's "art" hadn't all been melted down for scrap.

Conversation turned quickly to business. As they'd spoken about what she needed on the phone it was simple enough. Mr Dynamite "Kevin, please" offered no objection to her testing part of the gold wire. "Please, it's just good sense". She was buying nearly a thousand dollars worth of pure gold wire. A bit of an unusual purchase for anyone, doubly so for a teenager. But then, Annette had a well paying job. She hadn't needed to go out rolling gangsters for funds. All she to worry about were Thinkers looking for Tinker like purchases. Taylor wasn't half as worried about that, more concerned with having the materials to finish NachtWall as soon as possible, with spare to correct any mistakes. She wouldn't hide from the PRT and Protectorate like Mom did.

"Cash ok? I want to surprise Dad."

And wouldn't he be surprised if he knew what she was up to, she mused silently as Kevin took a photocopy of her student ID and wrapped the small reel of wire in a cloth. He handed her the bundle, before grabbing a small unmarked bag and a jewelery box.

"One of the last pieces Annette sold back to me. Normally I'd give my customers something small and cheap. It discourages mugging if all they find is cheap tat. "

It did sound good, in theory, but Taylor wondered how it would work out in reality. Most muggers in Brockton Bay would want more than just the bag. But the thought was somewhat nice. Well, aside from living in a city where being mugged was likely enough that a store owner gave advice on how to avoid it. She passed a redheaded teenager on the way out, he looked a lot like Mr Dynamite, probably his kid.

"Dennis, what have I told you about using the front door!"

 _"But Danger is my middle name!"_

What a weird family. Next stop was the electronics store. It would be somewhat obvious to just buy the various parts she needed but she could pay in cash again. She needed the parts as soon as possible the mana engine her mother had cobbled together was on its last legs. It's output had fallen by nearly fifty percent and she doubted her ability to rebuild NachtWall from scratch if the holding field collapsed. A couple of boxes of rechargeable batteries and a number of capacitors, along with a multitude of other parts and she was done. Her purchases went uncommented, but she made a show of checking a list at times anyway. Better to look like a runner for a Tinker than thought a Tinker. The bag was somewhat heavy, but compact easily fitting next to the cloth wrapped coil in her shoulder bag, leaving her holding only the 'gift' from the Jewelery store.

The sun was shining, the sea sparkling in the afternoon light, a nice day for walking home. She meandered down the boardwalk, enjoying the unseasonable warmth, her outfit showing off her toned figure more than her usual fair. Her long hair swished freely, unbound instead of the simple braid she normally wore it in. So intent on enjoying the warmth of the sun she didn't notice the brown haired body coming the other way, until the other girl had started to fall. Her hands shot out catching the brunette's wrists and a quick tug arrested her fall. But the brunette had already attempted to correct and her shorter frame fell against Taylor.

"Entschuldigung" "Sorry"

Their words overlapped each other. Taylor's face turned red in embarrassment.

"I'm really sorry, I should I have been watching where I was going/ I should have been looking at where I was going"

The brunette's face pinked slightly as they once again talked at the same moment. Taylor reached out placing her finger over the brunette's lips, silencing her protests.

"I'm a martial artist, I should have better situational awareness than that"

She noticed the remnants of a disposable coffee cup rolling around in the wind by their feet.

"At least let me buy you a new cup of coffee?"

"Tea"

"Ahh, a woman after my own heart, Taylor"

The brunette blushed a deeper shade of pink

"Amy" A timid smile brushing her lips, only then did Taylor notice where her finger still was, withdrawing it quickly and blushing even more. They turned together towards the row of overpriced coffee shops.

"Here, follow me, I know this great little tea shop"

Taylor's grip slid down Amy's wrist to her hand as she lead them through the afternoon crowd, off the boardwalk and down a smaller side street.  
The Blue Rose was a tiny almost hole in the wall teashop with a wide variety of loose tea leaves floor to ceiling on one side, and a number of small couches and tables near the counter. Cozy, friendly, exactly the sort of atmosphere the big coffee house chains tried to replicate, with minimal success.

"Louise, Grandma still napping?

Louise's tone shifted from apologetic to inquisitive.

"Yes, sorry little owl... ahh and who is your friend?"

Amy was looking slightly lost, and Taylor realized she was being rude, again. First nearly knocking her over, then half dragging her down what could be called and alleyway. She flushed a deep pink again.

"Sorry, ahh, Louise, this is Amy, who needs a new cup of tea, Amy this is Louise"

Amy looked at the selection of teas on offer, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. "Royal Assam is good starting point, we can expand your palate later dear"

Louise to the rescue. Taylor started to reach up to rub her forehead and realized she was still holding Amy's hand. It just felt natural to hold her hand and lead her around, she didn't feel like a stranger at all, but…

"O..okay..?"

"No, this is on me."

She led Amy to one of the couches more a love seat than anything, before almost reluctantly releasing her hand. A light blush dusted Amy's features when she did. Well at least she wasn't the only one to forget they'd been holding hands. It was really embarrassing. At least no one else had seen her acting like this.

"And you miss?"

Taylor half turned and her face burned. Right behind her stood a goddess her long, flowing blonde locks framing her perfect face. Glossy pink lips upturned into a wicked smirk.

Oh hell, what now.


	4. Chatper 4 - Interlude - Victoria

"Come on Ames, this one is different I'm sure you'll like him"

She half needled, half pleaded. She'd already asked the boy in question, so her sister's reticence was a problem. He was more nerdy than the last one, and a lot more shy. She'd been trying to work out her sister's type for years, and the last double date had gone better than any of the others, she'd actually talked with the guy. A little.

But this time she was sure she was onto a winner, long haired, that had been easy to work out, Amy barely looked at guys with short hair. Nerdy, that had been harder to discover. She'd cheated and asked Dean to watch her emotions. Tall, again easy enough to figure out. Bishounen, according to Dennis, whatever that meant. She'd scoured the school for a guy fitting all the key points, and now she just had to get Amy to agree to the double date she'd arranged. She turned her best puppy dog look on her sister, it had never failed to get her to do anything before.

"Fine!"

"Great, we're meeting them at six at Fugly Bob's"

"Vicky!"

Amy spluttered, her face twisted in a slight grimace. She marched off into the crowd ahead, almost physically radiating displeasure, the crowd shifting out of her path. All but one, a tall curly haired teen, who appeared more focused on the pleasant weather than the brunette missile marching forward in a world of her own. The inevitable happened, Amy started to topple backwards before righting and being pulled into an embrace with the bespeckled teen.

 _"Entschuldigung" "Sorry"_

Their apologies overlapped, the german word and accent hard Vicky on edge, Brockton Bay was the Neo Nazi capital of the United States, with the upper echelons tending towards faux german accents and pretenses of civility.

 _"I'm really sorry, I should I have been watching where I was going" "I should have been looking at where I was going"_

They were standing close, very close, blushing lightly. Amy wasn't struggling to get away, wasn't shying away from the stranger's touch, something about the situation made her pause. The taller of the pair placed a finger on Amy's lips and.. No!

But it explained so much, she hung back, watching. It'd be embarrassing for Amy if she was wrong afterall.

 _"ahh, a woman after my own heart, Taylor"_

The teen introduced herself, Vicky caught Amy smiling. Blushing! She is, Oh My God! It was like one of those cheesy Aleph movies. It was so cute, both of them blushing through fumbled introductions. She almost felt bad for Chris, Tom? What was his name anyway? Dean would know.

The taller of the two, Taylor, she reminded herself started off down the boardwalk, Amy trailing behind. Wait, no, they were holding hands. She followed them down a side alleyway, another turn and they were entering a small shop with an aged sign The Blue Rose She caught the door and followed behind them, both utterly oblivious to her presence. Is this what everyone else sees when I'm with Dean?

The shop was tiny, one wall covered in tins proclaiming their contents, the names meant nothing to her. Though English Breakfast was at least somewhat understandable. Taylor was introducing Amy to the shopkeeper like she was an old friend, rather than someone she just met less than five minutes ago. The storekeeper said something about Royal Asses before turning to her.

"And you miss?" Taylor and Amy turned towards her, both blushing bright red. Her lips twisted upwards into a wicked smirk. The looks on their faces.

"Something sweet and sugary?..So, Ames, who's your friend?"

"Vi..Vicky.. "  
"T..Aylor, Taylor this is my sister Victoria"

It was adorable how nervous she sounded. All eyes turned towards her, glazing over slightly, she sighed and pushed her excitement down, settling into the mental state that 'Turned off" her aura. It didn't really have an off switch, but the more apathetic she felt, the less others picked up from it, the less their emotions changed to match her own.

"So, should I be calling off our double date tonight?"

It was cruel, but it hurt. They told each other everything, or she had thought they did. Did Amy think she'd be weird about it, no one really cared about being gay, not after Legend came out. No one wanted to risk the 'fag' being a member of the Triumvirate, willing and able to go toe to toe with endbringers time and again.

Amy somehow managed to both pale and go an ever deeper shade of red, Taylor was looking horribly embarrassed too, poor girl. But she'd need to get used to attention if Amy Dallon had caught her eye, underage or not the local gutter rag liked to spin all kinds of fanciful tales about the unmasked Heroes of New Wave. They speculated on the Wards too, but tended to be far more careful not to let slip anything that could be taken as them leaking a Ward's civilian identity. One of the downsides to being a public hero, the press didn't have to hold back for fear of outing you. Speaking of outing.

"So Taylor, Fugly Bob's, around six'ish?"

Given how shy Taylor and Amy were being around each other they'd likely part ways without exchanging phone numbers if she didn't meddle. Amy would forgive her.

"Bwuh?"

Oh yeah, really smooth there Casanova, you can pull a complete stranger off the street for coffee, but can't handle being asked on a date. Wait, shit.

"Me and my boyfriend had been planning on taking Amy on a double date with a friend of his, but I'm sure she'd prefer it if you came along instead, hm?"

"Vicky…"

Amy whined, but she wasn't taking no for an answer on this, Taylor would take Amy on a date tonight, whether she liked it or not!


	5. Chapter 5

She slammed the front door slightly, god that was embarrassing. And Amy, how could her sister do that to her. But she'd just gone on a date her first date, ever. She'd thought about dating but it never crossed her mind that her first date would be with a girl! She wasn't into girls, was she? Shit, did she give out some gay vibe. Was that what set Emma off? Were the other girls picking on her because they thought she was perving on them in the locker room?

It wasn't a bad date. The blonde bombshell, Victoria, had called her boyfriend to rearrange and discovered he was nearby. The date had been pushed up at that point. Much to her and Amy's discomfort. They'd been swept along the boardwalk window shopping everything had happened so fast that the first hint she'd not noticed who she was on a date with until a little boy asked Vicky, aka Glory Girl for an autograph please.

That made 'Amy' Amy Dallon, Panacea. The wonder healer, whose hand she held once again. It had just felt like the most natural thing in the world, walking down the street, holding hands with Amy. Oh god, did that make her gay? She hadn't really thought about her sexuality before, and now she couldn't stop! She needed more girl friends, more friends full stop. Was Amy her girlfriend, how did that work? Did she want a girlfriend? No, stop thinking about it!

She wanted to put her haul away in the basement, behind the protective barrier. But Dad would be home by now, and she couldn't think of a reason to go into the basement. As if responding to her thoughts Danny's head poked around the kitchen door.

"K.. Taylor, it's rather late. Where have you been?"

Taylor winced, ever since the Incident at school Danny had switched to speaking english at home. It felt weird, Mom had always insisted they speak a proper language at home.

"Ich.. I..I had a date" The kitchen became eerily quiet, though she could hear something bubbling away on the stovetop. She was shaking. She didn't even know if she was gay. What would her Dad think, how could she explain that it was all just a big misunderstanding. But that would hurt Amy. But it was a misunderstanding. Wasn't it?

"Come here Taylor" She dropped her bag near the stairs and slumped into the kitchen. The meal smelt wonderful which made her feel guilty. She'd eaten a full meal on her 'date' and half a dessert. No, friends split desserts didn't they. That's a normal friendship thing. Not a date thing. Danny gestured waiting for her to be seated before he joined her. They sat in silence for a few minutes the stew simmering away softly the only real sound. Her father cleared his throat

"So.. What's his name?"  
"...Amy..."  
"...Oh… Thats.. Er.. good.."  
"...Do I give off gay vibes dad?"  
"Er.. Yes?"

Oh god she was giving off gay vibes. When had she last looked at a guy. Think, think! Mike! She thought he looked really pretty… Wait wasn't he going by Toni now? The E88 had beat him up for… Shit.

"I'm sorry I should have called first please may I go to my room now?"

"...ok.."

She fled.

… Half a turn and done. The last piece slid home perfectly, the complex web of circuitry started to glow happily. Pulses of light danced from node to node. Her device was done. Not her mother's, her own device, one designed for combat. For the numerous guns that the gangs had. She could be a real hero now.

[Simulation complete, system integrity 100% Empress]

She opened her eyes. Her bedroom was dark and the house was silent. The simulations were intense, even with Gesichtskreis feeding her hints she'd still failed more often than not. Putting together a device was hard. Every component needed to be handmade to fit all the others. Gesichtskreis was practically simple compared to the device her mother had been working on. Despite it being heavily modified already. It was in the end just a library device. Designed to store textbooks, course material and reference guides. Annette had done a lot of work on it though, expanded the onboard Expert System into a Near Inteligence.

A lot of Gesichtskreis systems were cobbled together, improvised. It was easy to see if you knew what to look for. Taylor was terrified of the prospect of making repairs on her mother's device. Her own device whilst more complex was at least laid out in a logical pattern. Gesichtskreis was a hodgepodge mess of add ons and patchwork repairs over the course of a decade. NachtWall was comparatively simple in a way. Whilst the design was heavily reinforced over Gesichtskreis, and able to channel more power it was designed into the device. Rather than slapped on top of a nominally non-combat device.

Magical Engineering was hard though. Even with the designs already complete actually building the components took precisely shaped magical fields. The calculations alone made her head swim and unlike combat applications required delicate balancing of power. Too little and the shape would be wrong or the part wouldn't be infused fully. Too much and you'd end up with a crumpled mess of burning gold. Toxic burning gold. Toxic wasn't really accurate though. The contaminated material radiated mana. Normal people, or Nulls as mom's books called them, could only withstand so much mana exposure before they started getting sick. It varied from person to person. Anyone with an active linker core would survive much higher levels of exposure before feeling anything and would recover faster. In fact you'd likely have to be inside an exploding mana engine to get sick if you had an active linker core.

Time to get to work. Her reading had added an urgency to her actions. The mana engine in the basement wasn't designed for long term operation. It wasn't built to the nice safe, Belkan code. Instead it was cobbled together out of scrap, an old Al-Hazard mana pump might have been safer than it. She couldn't just shut it down though, NachtWall was so very nearly complete but without the holding field it would collapse under it's own weight.

She crept down the stairs, carefully avoiding the creaky third step. Running a complex calculation to reduce her weight to further reduce the sound she made. The basement door opened silently, proof that oiling the hinges was worth the time and effort involved. In the basement she squeezed past a small pile of boxes next to the back wall, before stepping through the wall. Her skin tingled slightly from the illusion barrier, it wouldn't stop anyone with an active linker core, but nulls would find a solid wall. Annette had been more worried about nulls finding this space than the off chance someone from home would stumble down here.

The room beyond was roughly triangular, with an arching, heavily reinforced ceiling. Looking like a cross between a bomb shelter and a church architecturally. Along one wall sat a workbench full of tools, Taylor had spent hours organizing and familiarising herself with each and every one. The other wall held the mana engine, looking more like a random collection of junk than a piece of high technology, a thick cable snaked over the floor and into a pedestal in the middle of the room.

Inside a glowing holding field sat NachtWall, gold and crystal circuitry held firmly in mid air. She could see the gaps in it's frame, places which she would hopefully soon fill. Large buffer coils coming close to the edge of the holding field, spiraling mana channels leading to the hellishly complex synthetic casting arrays. There, next to the primary logic core a gap for the self repair node, and another space next to the memory array orphaned connections for the holographic projectors. There were a half dozen other similar gaps, mostly for relatively simple buffer coils thankfully.

With a huff she started the first component. How hard could it really be?


	6. Chapter 6

Hard. Even with Gesichtskreis helpfully feeding her step by step instructions she still nearly botched her first attempt at a buffer coil. Sweat had been running down her face by the time she was done. She glanced at her watch to discover half the night had gone already. She carefully set the tools to rights she'd need to find a better time to tinker, a few nights without sleep wouldn't be too bad, but she had other things she needed to do. Her supply of money was already running low, and she doubted she'd find such a rich target so easily a second time.

Strangely working on NachtWall gave her time to think, or little time to overreact whilst thinking. Her 'Date' with Amy hadn't been very date like, she remembered similar meals out with Emma before her betrayal. Vicky had probably just been poking fun at her and Amy's embarrassment over nearly running each other down. It had been fun too, almost like having friends, she'd just have to get used to the 'date' teasing. She'd have to talk to her dad and apologize properly. She felt a little stupid. She didn't even know if she liked girls or not and she'd 'come out' to her father. Should she tell him, but then what if she really did like girls she'd have to come out all over again.

Stop Taylor, bed now, worry later. Her suspension was coming to an end on monday and she'd need to be ready. She'd received an email informing her that she would need to do some makeup tests when she returned to school. Her grades had seen a sudden improvement with her suspension and the school wanted to make sure she hadn't been cheating. It'd be like the punchline to a bad joke if getting suspended ended the academic sabotage she'd been experiencing.

She slumped into bed, no more late nights. No, that wouldn't work, it'd make it obvious she was a student. One late night a week. Yeah, that could work. Her dreams were filled with a brown haired freckled face smiling at her.

She'd been following the dealer for most of the night. She could have stepped in at any point, but she wanted something a little higher up the supply chain. He must be running out by now, or at least had enough cash to make taking him down worthwhile. She was just contemplating the merits of taking the lone dealer when his watch beeped. With that he started walking down the street. Unaware of his rooftop shadow.

Finally, she knew she was pushing it for tomorrow. She'd managed to find a supplier for the Dysprosium and Samarium she needed for the self repair array. Annette had broken down microwaves, lasers, whole computers for the parts she needed. Smelting and refining using magical processes that still looked more like well, magic, than science. It still amused her that she could use magic as a scientific term, all those cape nerd online would wet themselves if they only knew.

The dealer entered a scruffy warehouse, would have looked just like it's neighbours had she not been on the rooftops. From above she could see through a grimy skylight into the middle of a hive of activity. Naked bodies measuring out quantities of various pills and powders into small baggies, roughly clothed gang members watched the packers carefully. She watched as one was dragged away from their working area and beaten in front of the rest, she couldn't tell what he'd done wrong, beyond scratching his nose.

Well she'd found a supply depot, though she couldn't see any money through the skylight there had to be a stash of it somewhere in there. The dealer she'd followed must have had hundreds of dollars on him alone. Unless the Merchants were selling a lot cheaper than she thought they were. A dark skinned man wearing a bandana over his upper face marched across the floor, the sorters flinched away from him, but everyone appeared to be paying attention to him. A cape. Skidmark probably.

She couldn't have asked for a better target for her first cape fight, rude, unskilled, and with a power that wasn't directly dangerous. She caught herself before she moved, directly dangerous, that was something to keep in mind. He could still use a field to enhance a pistol from merely dangerous to outright deadly. She hated that she had to do things this way, that she had to collect funds in such a risky way. Gesichtskreis wasn't designed for combat, and whilst the basic protection it provided had been upgraded, it still fell well short of real knight Armour.

Knight Armour could conceivably take a cannon round without harm to the wearer, but the Knight Clothing that Gesichtskreis could initially support would leak some of the damage through to the wearer. Annette's modifications of the basic defensive package had fell somewhere between the two, but it sacrificed much of standard mana shielding for enhanced physical protection. It wasn't like there were any real wizards here anyway. She'd finally got to her mother's notes on various 'magical' capes, and whilst the list didn't cover all of the current crop, it did show a trend. None of the so called wizards or witches had any magical potential at all, in fact every cape Annette had scanned had show almost zero linker core activity. Emma was more magical than Myrddin!

An ethnically mixed group had gathered around Skidmark, his inventive invective was audible even from her highly elevated perch. The Merchants were the only gang that wasn't racially based, they took everyone; rich, poor, black, white, asian, old, young, willing and unwilling. It was the last that made them a near perfect target, whilst the dogfighting ring had been very spur of the moment, and in hindsight poorly planned;- taking on one of the largest gangs in the city single handedly sounded utterly idiotic when said out loud. Hence her current position, and choice of target. No one could object to such filth being taken down, it wouldn't shift the balance of power in favour of either of the two bigger gangs, the ABB, Azn Bad Boys, or the E88, The Empire Eighty Eight.

It stung that taking down either of the racist gangs in the city would cause the other to expand rapidly, maybe even dig in so deep as to be nearly impossible to turf out. To deal with them effectively she'd need to work with the Protectorate, and then she'd have to deal with recruitment pitches. They might even try a hard sell given her apparent Tinker powers, would they list her as a Tinker? She shook her head, she needed to focus, Skidmark was just winding down his 'speech'.

"You shitstains got that?"

The group made various vaguely positive motions before starting to disperse, but she wasn't here for them, Skidmark was the one she wanted. Well, she wanted the money he'd lead her to. Turning the foul mouthed gang boss over to the PRT would just be icing on top. He disappeared into what might have once been an office, isolated from the rest of his gang, perfect.

It didn't take long to find the right window, the noxious smoke drifting up and out from it made the occupants activities clear. Even better, he'd probably be so out of it he'd be unable to fight back much at all. Swinging herself off the side of the building and into the open window Taylor rolled forward, straight into a repulsing field that threw her right back out again.

"Scheiße!"

She'd barely finished her curse before she landed on her back, old rotten pallets cracking her her reinforced body. It didn't hurt, which was both expected and surprising, it's one thing to know hypothetically that even a terminal velocity fall would be survivable, it was quite another to experience landing badly without any discomfort. She'd expect something more than more, more jarring than the feather soft bed she felt like she'd landed on.

A loud metallic sound rang out, like an explosion and something warm plinked softly against her forehead.

[Vorsicht! Massen Waffen erkannt]

Had they just? She opened her eyes, Skidmark was leaning out of the window, a shiney silver automatic in his hand, the barrel smoking slightly. I thought that only happened in movies. movement in her peripheral vision broke the trance, and she

[Blitzwirkung]

Moved, the world slowed to a crawl for a handful of heartbeats, the colours fading into muted greys as she threw herself back into the warehouse. The Merchants were going down, and going down hard!


	7. Chapter 7

Spin, duck, sweep, roll, dive, punch, dodge. The actions blended together into a frenzied dance, the concrete around her turning to gravel as shots flew past by the thinnest margins. Thoughts of making the Merchants pay had fled soon after the heavy machine gun opened up on her, it wouldn't be so much of a problem, except it was invisible. The Merchants had survived for years in Brockton Bay, a city that had played host to the teeth, as well as the ABB and E88. Some might call it luck, chance, or even suggest the other gangs didn't bother dealing with the Merchants because there was no profit in it.

The truth was biting Taylor, hard. The Merchants were still a viable gang in the Bay because Skidmark and Squealer were just that good at fighting. She'd taken Mush out moments after his trash golem like body appeared, but Skidmark, he was something else. He'd layered repulsive fields around the warehouse, deactivating and activating them seemingly at will, something PHO had made no mention of. Bullets whized past chased by harsh cracks as the sound of them being shot followed the supersonic munitions. She'd been slowly moving to box him in when the heavy machine gun opened up on her, signaling the arrival of Squealer.

Nearly a decade's worth of training in Strike Arts was all that kept her ahead of the lethal rain of lead, already her body felt battered black and blue where she had dived in the wrong direction, Combat Equipment soaking up most of the rounds energy where it was thickest. Taylor's chin was bleeding from a round that had clipped her, revealing the weakness inherent in all barrier systems, heavier looking armour provided better protection, absent armour provided far far less, at least against focused strikes.

The warehouse was a flaming wreck, and much of the street was turning into a rough gravel, pride kept her from fleeing. Pride and fear, further out the less motion a turret needed to track her. Another worry was the Merchants might give chase, the warehouse had been empty of all but Merchants, but if they chased her into a populated area… Taylor cut off that line of thinking sharply, no, she had to end this.

[Panzerschild]

A prismatic shield folded into shape between Taylor and her invisible and visible attackers, The cross of The Unifier at it's center, two points skyward and the third meeting the ground before her feet, arcane runes dancing along the connecting lines, the points capped with the Belkan symbols of Motion, Energy and Mass.

Bullets pancaked into the shield, stopped dead by the invisible structure inside the visible framework of the spell. It bought her enough time to think, not a lot, given Skidmark was already moving to get around the side of her nigh impenetrable barrier. But all she needed was a moment.

[Vektor Berechnet]  
Gesichtskreis highlighted where most of the shots had originated as they continued to pound her shield, the invisible gunner unaware their position had been compromised. Focusing on the mushroomed rounds flattened against her shield Taylor ran what might have been called a complex calculation in her head, Gesichtskreis feeding her numbers as she passed calculations back and forth, mass, energy and finally motion.  
[Schwalbenfliegen]  
She pulled energy, twisted it and released just as she'd calculated. The lead shards glowed with rainbow light, before accelerating in a shotgun like blast towards their originator.

Explosions lit the sky crimson orange for a moment, a cloud of smoke and debris hiding the results of her attack for a moment. Skidmark was swearing again, his coarse language bringing a physical sensation of disgust at its descriptive nature. Mentally scarring cursing aside he looked pissed. The smoke shifted slightly in the sea breeze, revealing the carnage she'd wrought. A mad, cobbled together cross between a Semi and a Tank sat in ruins in the street, smoke belching from every opening, the heavy armour shredded in places where more than one "swallow" had hit.

A soft banging signaled Squealer's impending escape from her formerly mobile fortress, a hatch spilling open accompanied by billowing black smoke.  
[Blitzwirkung]

Skidmark had only a moment to turn before she was upon him, his head snapping sideways as her fist met his temple. A thin piece of rebar bent into a rough figure eight bound his hands together before she moved on to the coughing and wheezing Squealer. She was covered in soot, oil and other various mechanical fluids, barely able to move let alone resist as Taylor repeated her improvised handcuffing.

Not a bad night's work, she thought, before recalling the missing funds, the money that she would need sooner rather than later. Was there a reward for capturing capes? A two tone droning broke Taylor from her musings, the volume increasing before falling, for thirty seconds before three sharp whistles blew. A signal she'd been taught to understand for as long as she could recall.

Endbringer Alert, Non-Local, Simurgh

The short siren to alert that there was an Endbringer attack, but distant enough that evacuation was deemed unnecessary, and a number of whistles corresponding to which Endbringer, one for Behemoth, two for Leviathan, and three, three for the Simurgh.

"Scheiße, Scheiße, Scheiße, SCHEISSE!"

Endbringer, endbringer truce, the PRT wouldn't take the Merchants now. At best they'd hold them until the fighting was over and then turn them loose, at worse they'd attempt to arrest her for breaking the truce. A crime that could land her straight in the Birdcage, no three strikes, simply a prison with no exit, no chance of parole from which no one had ever escaped. Maintained by Dragon, widely recognised as the greatest Tinker in the world.

"Scheiße"

Squealer had stopped hacking up a lung, and had been watching her swearing fit with wide eyes, damned Empire! Nearly everyone in the Bay took speaking German to mean neo nazi, and here she was, swearing in German with Skidmark, a black villain at her mercy.

"Endbringer truce" she bit out, her accent thick with frustration as she unbent the rebar she'd used to bind Squealers wrists, releasing Skidmark in turn before marching off, Squealer's voice rough and cracking calling insults to her retreating back.

[Kaiserstraße]

The streets flew past in an ever increasing blur as she raced downtown, towards the PRT building, maybe she'd be no good in a direct fight with an Endbringer, but maybe she could do medevac runs,Combat Equipment should keep her safe enough, and with Imperial Road she could be in and out like a speedster.

A small barricade was in the middle of being erected as she slowed to a sprint in front of the PRT building, surprising the armoured troopers setting up the barrier.  
"Wo.. Where?" She didn't need to clarify, one of the troopers stepped forwards, three chevrons on his, her? shoulder marked them as higher than the unadorned troopers manhandling the barriers into place.

"Canberra, first time?" Her voice a surprisingly soft mezzo that just didn't seem to fit the bulky armoured frame. Her question more a statement, led to a quick explanation of procedure at Taylor's nod. Capes would gather at an empty lot where transport would be provided to the endbringer fight, afterwards the truce held for forty eight hours after the local capes had been returned, normally within a day of the endbringer fight ending, Dragon usually providing transport back as it tended to be less urgent than leaving.

The short explanation couldn't have taken more than ten minutes at most, but in that short time Glory Girl had flown over, carrying a costumed Panacea, Amy.  
Everyone knows the Triumvirate attend every Endbringer battle, with only rare instances were only two of the three turn up. But Panacea, Amy had been attending them just as frequently, she had yet to miss a single Endbringer fight, no matter where in the world they appeared.

Touching down they were given directions to the rally point, Taylor followed on foot as they lifted into the air. It was time to stand against the monster and push back the night, to do whatever it took to keep the world turning, it was time to be a hero.


	8. Chapter 8 - Endbringer

The rally point was ready by the time Glory Girl had flown the short distance to it, Taylor watched as a PRT van disgorged Armsmaster, and the rest of the local protectorate, Miss Militia's flag patterned scarf blowing in the early morning air, Assault and Battery talking quietly with each other, she could see where the PHO rumours came from. Dauntless and Velocity rounding out the official heros. New Wave didn't seem to be making much of a showing, with only Photon Mom, otherwise known as Lady Photon talking fast and low with Glory Girl, an argument Vicky was losing if her pacing and waving arms were any indication.

Eventually they both stepped back, from the gathering crowd, Amy stood alone looking deeply uncomfortable. Time stretched as Amy looked around, finally noticing her standing not more than ten paces away. Their eyes locked, and Taylor's lip twitched upwards involuntarily at the odd look on Amy's face. It was like looking at a confused puppy, her head slowly tilting to one side, as if a change of angle would make what she was seeing make sense.

Snickering off to the side ended the impromptu staring contest. Assault kept chuckling, even after Battery cuffed the back of his head. "Puppy…" Another slap and what sounded like behave. Yeah she could see them as a couple. The winter air grew brighter as a star descended from the heavens, Purity landed bathed in a hash blue-white light. Lady Photon broke from her argument to glare at the other flying blaster. Their rivalry had been the stuff of legends over the years, Lady Photon had never been able to defeat Purity in their aerial duels. From how nonchalant Purity looked it seemed the rivially went only one way.

Glory Girl used the distraction to move in and hug Panacea before flying off without another word to the adult hero of New Wave. Likely upset at being forbidden from joining the fight going on right now most likely. Taylor could understand why the New Wave parents might not want their children facing off against this particular Endbringer. Leviathan sank landmasses, Behemoth wasn't called Herokiller for nothing, yet the Simurgh represented something far worse. She changed people, turned them into ticking timebombs if you spent too long too near. Too long too near, whole cities had been walled off from the world, quarantined.

Cities turned into giant timebombs, their populations, the ones that managed to flee in time scattered to the four winds. Whilst Behemoth killed the Capes that fought him his slow advance tended to leave civilian populations relatively unharmed. Leviathan killed less Capes, but again the civilian population tended to be no worse off than a natural disaster of a similar scale. But the Simurgh didn't, she descended from the heavens, a twisted mockery of angelic form and targeted the civilian population directly. Sometimes she hampered evacuation efforts, sometimes she targeted government structures, there was no rhyme or reason to her actions apparent at first, but the results were universally devastating in the long run.

Lady Photon was living up to her more widely used name, talking with Panacea quietly near to but obviously not with the Protectorate's group. Taylor suddenly found herself in the uncomfortable position of being nearer to Purity than the other heroes. The glowing neo nazi actually stood half a head shorter than Taylor now she'd landed. Gesichtskreis filtered out the excess light, and overlaid a detailed depth map, an automatic safety feature of some sort that left Purity unmasked to her eyes. She was surprisingly plain, despite being one of the most powerful capes in the Bay.

A thunderclap announced the arrival of their ride, a capped man wearing a fitted blue bodysuit with black paneling, Strider, one of the few teleporters that could carry groups rather than individuals. He was a regular to endbringer battles, bringing heros and villains from far and wide to the fight. Without Strider international endbringer response times would increase dramatically, even with the high speed tinkertech transports the PRT maintained. He signaled them all closer.

"..If you're coming stand… within the marked… area.."  
He was breathing heavily, a pained look over the visible portion of his face. The group gathered together in a roughly spray painted circle fifteen feet across, the orange paint almost glowing in the night air.

[Achtung! Dimensionsriss erkannt]

Night turned to day, and an almost wall of warm air washed over Taylor, the sun well on its journey to the horizon but still high in the sky. They stood atop a hill overlooking a crowded road, abandoned vehicles littering it's surface and the lower slope. In the distance an urban area stretched out, greenery interspersed in the concrete jungle that is modern architecture. It would have been quite picturesque if not not for the billowing clouds of dark smoke rising from several locations in the city. A thin dark line stood well back from the urban centre, army units preparing to enforce the quarantine, a grim reminder that there would be no victory here no matter the results of the battle.

"Please take an armband and follow the on screen instructions, this is for your own safety. If you feel you can directly contribute to the fighting please head to the Red staging area where you will be assigned a squad by a coordinator… "  
The instructions continued on, as they were each handed an armband, with a small screen embedded with two buttons below. The blank screen lit up as Taylor secured it around her forearm.

[-State Name-]

She paused, suddenly realising that she'd not come up with a name. It just hadn't seemed important at the time, the world, capes, they all felt small compared to her heritage. That she was the daughter of a genetically modified magical super weapon, heir to an empire spanning three moons and a not insignificant country sized region on Belka itself. She was Taylor Susanna Hebert von Abendhimmel. Imperial Princess of Belka!

Picking a cape name seemed so, unimportant compared to that.

"Belkan"

The name fell from her lips, a frown half crossed her face, it felt right. Despite her Earth-Bet upbringing, that she'd never once even set foot on the world her mother called home. Her lips twitched upward reading the screen, even tinkertech speech to text wasn't perfect.

[-Velkan, Accept; Yes, No?-]

She took a moment to correct the error before moving towards the movers staging area. She had nothing she could really use to hurt the Engbringer, theoretically she could have Gesichtskreis handle more of the casting load, but several of her mother's magical textbooks advised against it unless the need was truly dire. Doing so would stress the non-combat frame, potentially damaging her only source of information of magic. She swore then to learn some of the more potent bombardment spells, diabolic emission would be a fitting end to the false angel, hmm, Atem des Eises might work on leviathan, or maybe Mistilteinn. But she would be looking into the more destructive spells, that was certain, for now she had work to do.

Medevac wasn't quite as glamorous as actually fighting the threat head on, but it was in many ways even more vital. Capes who survived their first endbringer battle tended to survive subsequent ones more than inexperienced ones. She'd had to give a brief rundown of what she could and couldn't do, to the coordinators, who quickly tasked her to emergency evacuation. Apparently a lot of movers were only human strong, so her enhanced strength was a welcome addition.

[Scan abgeschlossen]

But it was her ability to find people that had several of the medical personal eavesdropping drool. Most movers had to refer to their armbands to locate trapped or buried capes, but the location was still an approximation. When dealing with the Simurgh every moment counted double over the usual search and rescue norms, you couldn't spend an extra five minutes searching under every piece of rubble for the missing cape, you either found them or left.

Triangular markers dotted her vision, a mental command filtered the ones moving under their own power, a second cleared the dead, a third linked Gesichtskreis to her armband coordinate system, clearing all but the cape she'd been sent to evacuate. Two timers counted down at the edges of her vision.

[Kaiserstraße]

The first, counter showed her total exposure limit, it was currently light pink and had just passed twenty, the second, counted down the casualty's exposure limit, currently it was light blue and showing just over four minutes, as it ticked down under four it flashed and turned a sickly neon orange warning her that she had to move quickly.

Taylor bounced off the side of a building quickly changing the direction of her headlong sprint, buildings whipped past on both sides in a near blur. Three minutes forty three seconds. She saw the cape she was here for, impaled by rebar from some building that had tumbled during the battle. The steel rods entering his back and exiting through his stomach and chest, even if he got to a regular hospital he'd probably die. Any of the other medevac capes would have had to leave him there, lacking means to extract him in within their own exposure limits let alone the mere three and a half minutes he had left on his own.

[Blutiger Dolch]

Metal parted with an agonised shriek, waking the causality from their stupor as they shifted, weight no longer supported by the rusted spikes that impaled him still. She caught him under shoulder and knee in a bridal style carry, it was less than ideal but wouldn't shift the injured areas too much. Three twenty seven. Taylor turned and shifted back into her movement spell, the city receding behind her as she moved faster and faster with each step, wind sweeping her hair back and cooling without hindering despite traveling at beyond highway speeds.

Three minutes sixteen seconds. She deposited her cargo in triage, medical personnel swarmed forwards, applying dressings and hooking up IV lines. He was the twelfth such rescue she'd managed so far. She'd had to route around the twisted angel more than once, each time eating precious moments of her exposure limit. She needed to stand down and have the timer reset just to be safe now. It was surprising how quiet the fight had been, yes there had be a lot of urban bustle and noise, and the sound of capes using their powers but it felt like something was missing, like there should be a soundtrack to the epic battle going on or something.

Taylor shook her head, too many Aleph movies, they had a weird obsession with giant monsters, or robots, anything big really, smashing cities. She waited in the stand down zone, the timer on her screen reset to how long she'd have to stay before she could return to the battle. A wall of noise caught her attention.

"Incoming!"

A beam of red light speared out from the heart of the city, right towards the triage area. Taylor didn't even have a moment to think before the automatics kicked in, and then enhanced at her unintentional command.

[Panzerschild]


	9. Chapter 9 - PHO

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 **Topic: Endbringers thread XXXIII  
In: Boards ► World News ► Main**

 **ncc07finity'send** (Original Poster)  
Posted on February 14, 2011:

Starting a new topic because the last one hit post limit.

Behemoth attacked Istanbul December 9th, 2010. Thread here  
The Simurgh attacked Canberra, Australia on February 24th, 2011. Thread here.  
Estimated time for next attack is May 15th, 2011. This time is not exact, and is likely to deviate by as much as 15 days.

 **(Showing Page 7 of 34)**

 **► Fluffle lord**  
Replied on February 27, 2011:  
Why don't you all just calm down. The tinfoil hats come out each time Ziz attacks, yes she's upto something she always is, but we just have to keep calm and deal with it as it comes like always.

 **► HarkonnenServant**  
Replied on February 27, 2011:  
Have you guys seen the video they've got over on there 4

It totally stopped that laser cold! Kinda cool looking designs too.

 **► Ford Prefect** (Banned)  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
[Post Deleted by Moderator - Enjoy your vacation]

 **► Stalking_Tanuki** (Moderator)  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
Auuuu, Please keep things civil. Discusions about the Endbringer Turce belong in the debates forum.

Evacuation numbers usually take a week or so to start coming in, please be patient.

 **► ZombieSquad** (Verified Shipper)  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
[Removed by Moderator - please take it to NSFW-CrW]

 **► StevetheAverageGuy**  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
What the hell ZombieSquad!

Eidolon would never do anything like that with the Simurgh. That's just sick!

 **► Winged_One**  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
Ewww, No no no, my eyes! What is wrong with you people!

 **► Wolfy1** (Verified Fuzzy)  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
It wasn't that bad, kinda sweet in a way. Lewd but not rude.

 **► Stalking_Tanuki** (Moderator)  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
Maybe I should set up a tent or something, I always end up camping these threads just after an attack anyway.

 **► ReaperofInterest**  
Replied on February 26, 2011:  
Did anyone else notice the fires that laser started? It wasn't even anywhere near the ground and it was setting things of fire. How powerful was that thing?

Any idea who's shield that was, I checked the wiki and the only thing close was a stub about some villain in Brockton Bay in the late ninties early 2000's.

 **End of Page.** **1** **,** **2** **,** **3** **...** **5** **,** **6** **, 7,** **8** **,** **9** **...** **32** **,** **33** **,** **34**

 **Topic: Rainbow Shield?  
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay**

 **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know)  
Posted on February 25, 2011:

So as some of you might have seen the video from the Simurgh attack in Canberra 4

My sources confirm that Belkan was responsible for the shield that protected the aid station. Some digging also shows she's been operating as a vigilante in Brockton Bay, and is probably based here.

What we know;  
Can create large shields of unknown but high damage capacity. Costume is a dark grey bodysuit and duster/trenchcoat, fingerless gloves and heavy steel toed boots and a tinkertech visor. Some sort of mover rating. Attended an endbringer attack doing emergency medevac.

What we suspect;  
Costume eerily similar to The Lost Knight, a villain that vanished from the Brockton Bay scene in the mid 2000's. Apparently a Teenager, so probably not the same person as TLK, maybe a legacy cape or relative.  
Self identified hero.

[Update 25/02/11] Posts on the forums here under **Kleine Eule** Confirmed relationship to TLK

 **(Showing Page 1 of 10)**

 **► DatCat**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Holy shit, just look at that beam. Looks like **Shielder** has some compition.

 **► White_Devil** (Temp-banned)  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Oh my that was rather impressive, jolly good show  
[Edited by Moderator - Let's keep things family friendly alright]

 **► Cog**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
So new Tinker in town? Doesn't that outfit look a lot like **Lost knight, The**

 **► XxVoid_CowboyxX** (Banned) (Muted)  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
[Speculating on a cape's identity is against the ToS - You've been warned before enjoy your ban]

 **► Ninth_Wolf_Lord**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
 **XxVoid_CowboyxX Dude** seriously not cool!

 **► Wanderer of the Ways**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Good riddence I say, he's always been pushing his luck, and the less said about his posts in CrW the better.  
 **  
► SubstandardGrowl**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
So any idea on their ratings, what do shields count as anyway, shaker? Brute? Gotta be a high number to take something like that.  
 **  
► FreezeCelestia**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Shields = Shaker dude, use the search function.

What I want to know is what the design means, is it just for decoration or something more?

 **► Celestial-Monster**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
No one gets to pick their powers, everyone knows that. Probably some subconcous thing.  
 **  
► SpecificProtagonist (Verified Fetishist)**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Why do all the new capes have to be so dull.  
 **  
**

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(Showing Page 2 of 10)

 **► KleinerGiftZwerg**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Seriously SP, you've got a problem.  
 **  
► Wavelength** (Verified Cape) (Villain)  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
I'm alive and not locked in quarentine right now because of Belkan. She pulled me out from under half a house with time to spare on the clock. Could have been the concussion but she was bloody fast, strong too.

 **Belkan** , I owe you a drink sometime.  
 **  
► ShieldApathy**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Trust the villain to offer the minor a drink!

 **► DevilsAdvocate**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Well to be fair we've no confirmation of her age beyond "looks like a teenager" she could be legal.

 **► PanteneProIII**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Why yes she might be, and jolly pretty too.  
[Edited by Moderator - Family friendly board people!]

► Kleine Eule (Verified Cape)

Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Oh wow, I just got back and there's already a thread about me.

I'm rather tired right now so I'll just clear up some things.

I'd be what the PRT calls a Shaker/Breaker, the Visor was my Mom's as some have already guessed.

I've only been a hero for a couple of weeks now. Canberra would be my third time out in costume. I hadn't even picked a name out before the attack, but Belkan just seemed to fit.  
 **And yes, I'm too young to drink. Sorry Wavelength**

 **► Kellhus**  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Pretending to be a cape that just attended an endrbinger attack is bad form. Mods?

 **► Mercurial** (Moderator)  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Way ahead of you. I can confirm Kleine Eule is indeed Belkan. The verification image [Link] was really impresive too.

► Bare_Motivation

Replied on February 25, 2011:  
OMG, wow. What was it like fighting Ziz, was the scream as bad as they say, do you have to spend time in observation, was it scary? Did you actually see her?

 **► FunWithGuns** (Verified Cape) (Protectorate SSE)  
Replied on February 25, 2011:  
Too soon kid, way too soon.

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Taylor leaned back in her chair, glancing at the clock. The thread had degenerated into a small flame war shortly after she'd posted. It wasn't even on topic either. She had just enough time to get across town, well if she cheated. She fingered the cracked ring, spinning it around her finger gently. The automatics had done their job and kept her safe, but that attack had been powerful.

Gesichtskreis wasn't badly damaged, but she'd not be able to use it until the recovery systems patched all the broken internal connections. She couldn't even use the library function. She'd not really realised how much she relied on the tiny wonder of magical technology until now. In theory she should be able to do everything she did with her mother's device without it, but she'd had less than a month to practice, to learn and it was showing now.

She couldn't even work on NachtWall as she had no way to check for mistakes or errors. It highlighted how much she'd have to work to understand her magic directly without so many crutches, and how vulnerable she was to losing so much by being careless. It'd saved hundreds of lives no doubt, Amy's amongst them, but it had left her feeling vulnerable, weak.

A run sounded like just the thing she needed to clear her head, sitting here reading stupid internet theories wasn't doing her any favours. She shrugged on the plain grey hoodie she always wore for jogging and snatched up her keys and purse. Danny was watching TV as she came downstairs.

"Off for a run?" He absently asked, flicking channels without really settling on anything. It really irritated Taylor when he did that, she should be the one flicking channels not him.

"Ahh, no.. I'm meeting a friend"

"oh?" The short sound was heavy with question, almost a physical presence hanging between them.

"Y..yeah, just meeting Amy… To catch up, or something.." Her father's face twisted into a slightly uncomfortable look, before turning mischievous.

"Well don't stay out too late, do you need money for your date?"

Her face flushed a deep red as she feld, grabbing a long rainbow scarf as she slammed the door slightly. She didn't bother with stretching or warming up, breaking into a fast jog that she'd could maintain without tiring. Turning into what she knew was a blind alley she wrapped the scarf around her lower face before whispering the spell, complex calculations she'd never had to do without aid spun through her mind, the solutions almost trivially easy after using it so frequently.

 _Kaiserstraße_

The world bent slightly as she ran up the wall and began her rooftop journey across town. Panacea was doing yet another shift at the hospital downtown, it still amazed Taylor how dedicated Amy was to healing. It felt like she spent every spare minute at the various hospitals and clinics across the city. Maybe she was one of those capes that didn't need sleep or something, that would explain why she filled her time as much as she apparently did.

It was surprising that even with all the flying capes around no one ever seemed to look up. She passed a group of tourists with Cameras pointed out towards the PHQ in the bay, her shadow rolling over them like a miniature cloud and still not one of them spared even a glance skywards. The building gained height the closer she got to her destination, her lack of Combat Equipment lending an extra edge of danger to her rooftop run.

All too soon she saw the hospital ahead, a figure in well worn jeans and t-shirt shifting from foot to foot near the entrance. She wasn't late was she? Taylor allowed herself to drop off the side of the building she was on, one hand touching the wall, slowing her descent. Landing softly she glanced around. No one in sight, good. She unwound her scarf, making it appear more to be for the cool air than concealment.

"Hi" Amy spun with a squawk, apparently her approach had been stealthy too.

"Ready to go?"

"s..Sure" Time to face the music, her punishment for picking such a poor disguise. Maybe a nice meal to put Amy in a better mood or something.  
"Lunch?"

"Okay"


	10. Chapter 10

At some point during their short walk to the diner Amy's hand had slipped into her own. Something she hadn't noticed until she'd had to let go to open the diner's door. Maybe it was a little childish, but she relished the friendly affection the gesture held. It had been so long since she'd had any friendly physical contact with someone her own age and her father wasn't the most physically affectionate person either.

A small bell tinkled softly as the door opened, alerting the waitress who just waved them towards a booth. Not the most upmarket of places, which was good. Taylor mentally tallied her remaining funds with a well disguised wince. Seven hundred dollars might sound like a lot for a working class teenager to have on hand, but when it comes to building magitech it's a pitiful amount.

Eating out was expensive, well, more expensive than eating in. But they needed the semi-privacy that the diner offered, wide open sight lines and a lack of other patrons at the current hour ensured they would be unlikely to be overheard. Silence lingered over the table like a thick smog. She was saved by the arrival of the waitress, a middle aged, slightly plump woman with a forgettable face.

"What can I get'cha girls"

The thick drawl and smokers rasp startled Taylor slightly, expecting softer somehow given her appearance. Delving into the menu she went for a simple cheeseburger and a soda. It wasn't like she had fast food often enough to worry overmuch about what she ate when she did. In fact she'd only eaten out twice in the last two years, three times if you included her previous 'date' with Amy, Vicky and Dan?

Amy had ordered a chicken burger wrap whilst she'd been trying to recall the name of Victoria's date, she hadn't thought she was bad with names or faces, but she couldn't picture him at all. She tried to picture Vicky and the details poured in, the shape of her eye, the curve of her swanlike neck, the..

"..aylor?"

Amy was looking at her concern painted over her face. Guilt hung heavy in her stomach. What was she doing, that was Amy's sister she'd been daydreaming about, whilst Amy, her maybe girlfriend sat across the table! She'd offer to pay, yeah, she'd treat Amy today. God this was hard.

"Sorry, just distracted. My suspension ends monday.." She trailed off at the widening of Amy's eyes, shit, she hadn't told Amy anything about being suspended. She hurried to explain, about the bullying, about the locker, once she started the floodgates opened her mouth betraying all her deepest, darkest secrets.

"..and it was just one step too far, it was something my mother gave me, I just snapped. I slapped the traitorous bitch, once, only once. But that was enough for the school"

She felt lighter for having told her story, it felt like she'd been talking for hours, but the lack of their order proved otherwise. Months of bullying condensed into so little time, it seemed to cheapen everything she'd been through. Despite not going into detail it felt like it should take longer to describe the campaign waged against her at school.

At some point during her tale Amy had shifted around the table, a soft, thin arm pulling Taylor into an awkward half hug. It felt good, really good. Deprived of friendly human contact aside from her father for so long made the simple gesture all the more comforting.

A pair of gentle thumps announced the arrival of their meals, the contents of the plates sliding around slightly at the unnecessary additional force imparted by the now surly faced waitress.

Conversation turned to the relatively safe topic of Taylor's cape career, how long had she had powers "About a month" where she got the professional looking costume "Mom's" and the obviously Tinkertech visor "Mom's" Taylor found the expected conversation easy, right until the next sentence. She paused to consider what to say before a plausible lie came to mind.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed when I found her lab, I don't dye my hair after all."

She felt somewhat guilty, but she didn't want to sound crazy like so many "magical" capes. Gesichtkreis was easy to mistake for any other Tinkertech device, her powers could be explained away as a weird Shaker/Mover combination. It all boiled down to occam's razor, what was more likely. Either she was a cape with a grab bag of powers, daughter of a cape with a grab bag of powers that had been delusional, or she was really the lost heir to a magical space faring empire in another dimension.

If she hadn't seen the sheer number of book Gesichtkreis had on file she'd have been inclined to believe her mother was one of those capes too. The sheer number of files, the detailed history books alongside school level texts, magical textbooks alongside cookery books. Faking so much just didn't make sense, the number of files was simply staggering. The files she couldn't access, not until the auto repair functions finished bridging connections in the damaged device at least.

She wouldn't have shown Amy the files Gesichtkreis had in its memory even if it was functional, despite how comfortable she felt around her. Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. She thought back to all the hushed midnight conversations with Emma, all the secrets shared, each at risk of being exposed since her betrayal. No. She was glad Annette hadn't told her anything before her death, for she would surely have told Emma at some point, sworn her to secrecy. An oath that would now be suspect. Would she do that to her? Would she go that far to hurt her? She didn't know, and hopefully would never have to find out.

The burger couldn't hold a candle to the meal they'd enjoyed together at Fugly Bob's despite being similarly priced, and the waitress's bad attitude helped further clarify why the diner was nearly deserted, the only other occupant a blonde girl in a Red Sox cap hunched over a salad at the far end of the diner. Taylor took the bill before Amy could glance at it, standing to pay.

"My treat"

She made her way to the counter to pay ignoring the protests coming from behind her.

* * *

They had ended up wandering around downtown somewhat aimlessly, just walking and talking about whatever came to mind. The recent endbringer battle went unmentioned by unspoken agreement, too soon, too public a place despite the thin foot traffic. They were just passing a small movie theater when Taylor pulled to a halt, a poster catching her attention. *New From Aleph, Tangled* read the large letters above the odd image of two faces peering out through a wall of hair.

She'd always enjoyed Disney imports from Aleph when she was younger. The entertainment industry on Earth-Bet had stalled, much like high technology, the endbringers weren't only to blame for that, the Tinkertech bubble of the 90's had set some of the largest companies back years worth of research and development on it's own. No the endbringers had only prevented further developments, high tech labs tended to be juicy targets for the Simurgh and her siblings.

She was surprised to find herself tugged into the theater, already filling up with bodies young and old as they filtered in towards the screens.

"I..I just want to check the times… I know it's silly.." Amy looked so nervous as she spoke, like she was revealing some deep dark secret. Taylor suppressed a chuckle. She'd been looking for an excuse to hang out more, to feel Amy out on the whole joke/maybe-not-joke date thing. This would be perfect, they'd watch a movie together, that was something people did on dates, right?

The line was momentarily empty, a sign of approval from above? Random chance? Taylor didn't mind which, she strode forwards.

"Two for Tangled please" paying for both tickets before Amy could even begin to voice a protest.

"My treat, since I asked you out" Amy gaped slightly, the implication that this was a date rendering her speechless before a small grin caught her lips. Phew, that settled that. It was a date. She was on a date with Amy… A second date with Amy Dallon… Panacea… She was dating Panacea…

A swarm of warm butterflies danced in her stomach, it was almost nice in way. Did that mean Amy was her girlfriend? Was she really gay, asking another girl on a date felt kinda gay to her. This wasn't some friendly misunderstanding anymore, it was a real date. She pushed the thoughts to one side as they settled into their seats. She'd worry about it all later, for now she had a movie to enjoy in good company.

* * *

It was already dark by the time they left the movie theatre, the nearby skyscrapers glittering in the dim early evening light, chatting about the movie they'd just seen when Amy noticed how dark the streets were.

"Crap! I'm supposed to be home in.. Five minutes" She said as she glanced at her watch to confirm the time. Her face somewhat panicked as she dug around for her phone, dialling a number rapidly.

"If I call Vicky now I might make it home on time… Crap crap crap, voicemail…" She'd begun pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, as if hoping moving would help prevent her from missing her curfew. She was chewing her lower lip nervously whilst looking skyward.

Taylor glanced around, a nearby alleyway looked empty enough for her purpose. Leading the distracted Dallon was easier than she thought it would be, if she'd had some ill intent it would have been the perfect time to catch her completely off guard. A single sweeping move and the deed was done.

"Eep, t..t..Taylor?!" Arms instinctively wrapped around her neck completing the bridal carry she'd initiated. A quick calculation had them bounding to the top of the building they'd been stood at the base of.

"Relax.. I'll have you home in no time… Well if you tell me where to go" She paused, hoping she hadn't make a huge mistake before Amy seemed to gather her wits and point towards Captain's hill and rattled off a street name.

"Trust me?" A hesitant nod reassured Taylor of her plan, one, two, three steps and they were sailing through empty air towards another rooftop on their path. Arms tightened around her neck, but relaxed as she found her pace. Amy watched in wonder as the city heights disappeared in mere paces, acrobatic leaps taking them over residential streets with ease, the entire journey had taken less than two minutes, finding an appropriate spot to stop had taken more effort than the run.

"Wow.."

They walked the rest of the way, Taylor insisting she see Amy to her front door despite how nice the neighbourhood seemed. The butterflies were back, dancing their merry jig. They stood on the sidewalk outside of the Dallon household facing each other lightly holding hands.

"I had fun."

"Me too."

"Well, Goodnight."


	11. Chapter 11

It felt really strange to be back at Winslow, within these slowly decaying walls of learning for the first time in nearly a month. So much had happened since she left, it all seemed so small, the trio seemed to pathetic, petty. High schoolers acting in ways that normal society wouldn't accept, acting in a way that would see them fired from any reasonable employer, maybe even jailed. If Winslow had done Taylor a disservice, it had utterly failed in its duty to prepare her tormentors for the world outside.

She could almost pity the trio, almost. They would leave Winslow with warped ideas about how the world worked, that daddy dearest could ride in and solve all their problems for them. Anywhere else it was a bad attitude to have, here, in Brockton Bay it could be deadly. The gangs had practically ruled the city for as long as she could remember, she hadn't always known what the various graffiti meant, but it was ever present in her mind. She just couldn't image the city without the gang tags.

The office drone lead her to an empty classroom on the upper floors, a reminder of the glory days of Winslow, before the closing of the docks had forced so many families to leave. The teachers desk had a number of papers stacked on its surface, tests, at least one for each of her classes. The work she'd been given to do over her suspension was free from sabotage, she hadn't heard what her grades were for the work she'd done, but given they were testing her now individually. Well it implied she'd done well, too well compared to her previously sabotaged grades.

When she'd heard about the tests she'd been angry, the implication that she'd been cheating was strong even in the polite message. But now that she'd had time to think things through it made her smile. These tests would prove she was a better student than all the classroom grading suggested, they would have a record showing that she should easily be a grade A student. It would highlight that something odd was going on with her class work and projects.

She sat at the desk the bored looking drone indicated, she began rattling off instructions, standard exam fare. So standard it included reminders not to look at other students answers. Taylor snorted when that part was read aloud, drawing a slightly confused blink from her uninterested invigilator. Reading aloud without taking in what you saying? Another point highlighting the competence of Winslow faculty.

The exams were straightforward, even slightly simplistic. After the complex and demanding task of device construction and deviceless spellcasting it all seemed so, easy, far easier than she'd thought it would be, even the subjects where her magical education shouldn't have helped were easy. Could her self study have been more effective than the teachers? Or was using magic doing something to her brain. She once again wished she could check Gesichtskreis, if it was the magic surely it'd be noted in one of her mom's textbooks, or maybe just her journal.

She'd completed the entire stack of tests just before the lunch bell rang. Her miserable monitor looked a little confused, given the time limit for each test she should have taken most of the day to finish them all. Somewhat unfair of the school to make her back to back so many different subjects. A familiar cherubic face poked it's head around the door, soft pink lips turned upwards into a cutesy smile, as dainty lashes batted sweetly. Madison.

"I got sent for the mornings exams?"

It came out half questioning, the implication that none would be done hanging slightly, disguised as confusion over which exams she should be collecting. No. Both faces in the room turned towards Taylor, the word escaping without conscious thought, disbelief and a touch of anger colouring it heavily.

"No, none of the teachers would be so incompetent as to send one of the students collect exam papers."

She turned to the dumbfounded office drone who had already been lifting the papers ready to hand them off on the simple say so of a student. She withdrew them, looking somewhat embarrassed at her own actions. That had been close. She turned to Madison, a stern look upon her face.

"With me, now"

Taylor grabbed her bag and followed along, spotting Sophia and Emma lurking nearby, triumphant smirks falling into more negative expressions as they saw Madison's empty hands. A bundle of papers easily visible in Emma's hands, the top clearly a copy of the tests she'd just completed.

How the hell had they managed that? It was like the school was letting them get away with this crap. That or they had keys to the office? It just didn't make any sense. No, she wasn't letting those tests out of her sight until they had been handed in. Wait, maybe…

"Well well well, what do we have here? Pre-filed in tests, and my name on the top. Really?"

The snatch had been perfectly timed, already distracted by the obviously irate staff member dragging one of their number away Emma hadn't held onto the doctored tests. There wasn't a good reason for her to have those tests, let alone ones claiming to belong to Taylor. The earlier altercation between the two suddenly becoming evidence that supported rather than damned.

The currently disgruntled office drone took a moment to absorb the information, gears ticking behind her eyes as she weighed the pros and cons. A glance at the top paper made the decision, her expression hardening.

"Office"

A single simple word that painted a confused look over Emma's face, as if she couldn't imagine what she'd done that might warrant disciplinary actions despite being caught red handed. She started off down the hall, away from the most direct route to the office, a path that would intersect Sophia's position.

"Now, Miss Barnes"

The firm, and slightly angry voice stopped her in her tracks, a flash of rage covered her face before being concealed by a more innocent expression. Sophia didn't even bother to hide her expression, openly glaring at the surprisingly strong willed staff member. She'd always wondered how Sophia got away with half as much as she did. Emma had the lawyer dad, the threat of swift legal action held like a sword of damocles, ready to strike at any moment. Madison looked closer to ten than fifteen, her cute, innocent face charming almost all the teachers.

Sophia, Sophia was a track star. One of the best sprinters in the school, but there were others almost as good as her, almost as fast. Better distance runners, more multitallented athletes. Nothing really stood her head and shoulders above the rest, nothing that should allow her so much leeway. It was a mystery that Taylor had never been able to solve.

She shadowed the group on the way to the office, inside instead of the usual dirty blonde of Principle Blackwell sat a bleached blonde woman in a well fitted suit was visible through the door. Sophia had spotted the difference too, paused at the threshold before entering, drawing a look from the office drone.

"Miss Hess, I'm sure you have class you should be attending."

The staff member showed even more spine as she shooed the dark skinned teen out of the office. It wasn't surprising she knew their names, she'd dealt with them all a month ago. A month ago when their statements resulted her Taylor's suspension. Whatever had happened had seemed to give her more courage now than before. A lack of Mr Barnes probably helped too.

She ducked into the principle office with both stacks of tests, a small note penned onto the illegitimate copies marking them as such. Emma spent the time texting furiously. Maybe even trying to get her Daddy to come save her yet again. The door opened again, the bottle blonde leaned out, scowling.

"Phone" She held her hand out expectantly. Emma looked puzzled, like she couldn't understand what was being asked of her. A repeat of the demand met an incredulous look. She couldn't be so stupid as to ignore her could she?

* * *

Wow, she'd never seen anyone handle Emma like that, after Emma's phone was confiscated the substitute headmistress asked Madison for hers too. An empty handed gesture from Taylor met a slight nod of approval. Things had changed around here whilst she'd been gone.

Whilst most of the teaching staff had remained the same, the lack of Principle Blackwell had a dramatic effect on the course of the meeting. Principle Howard, on loan from Arcadia wasn't swayed by whatever hold the Trio had over Blackwell, in fact she appeared shocked at the pair's behaviour. Oh yes, this was it, this was the real world intruding upon their fun and games.

She called them each in one at a time, starting with Emma, then Madison, she'd just sent them to sit at opposite ends of the office when a knock preceded Alan Barnes entering the Principal's office, the receptionist hot on his heels.

"Ahh, Mr Barnes? Please wait outside, I'll be with you shortly"


	12. Chapter 12 - Interlude - Emma

She stood at the mouth of the side street, almost an alleyway and shivered despite the sun shining high in the sky. Why was she even here, she couldn't remember what had drawn her back to this of all places. She'd not left the house in days, only leaving her bedroom to answer nature's call, barely eating. Her hair was a mess of scraggly, roughly shorn ends, her unmatched clothes over her odorous body. She'd only showered once since the attack, fear had gripped her as she undressed, the gangsters words haunting her.

No, being naked anywhere left her feeling vulnerable, weak, unsafe. She'd taken to barricading her door at night, the window bolted shut despite the summer heat. Standing out here in the bright sunny day felt cool in comparison to her bedroom, the air felt cleaner, fresher. It didn't make sense to her, that this place that looked almost normal should be where it happened. Shouldn't it look darker, or have some other sign showing the evils that had almost been done here? Where was the ominous music? Something, anything to differentiate it from any other place.

But reality remained stubbornly unbent by her thoughts, the sun still shon, seagulls squawked, life just carried on as it ever had. She continued to stare down the street, trembling slightly. One, two, three steps had her entering, walking down towards the site of the attack. She just knew she had to, that things would not get better until she did. This was so stupid, she turned around to head home when a figure stepped into her path.

"Takes some guts"

What?

"Coming back I mean, stupid as hell, but gutsy"

She stared at the dark skinned teen that stood in front of her, for a moment fearing she was ABB before logic overrode that thought, she wasn't asian enough to be ABB, then who? An image of a hooded hockey masked figure overlaid itself over the girl before her, the stance was the same, the way she held herself. Even her voice was similar. The words started to sink in, this was her rescuer, the one that had stood and waited, watched for however long. The one she'd thought was a ABB cape at first.

There was an echoing clap rolling through the alleyway, her hand stung and the dark skinned teen's face was turned to one side, eyes widening in shock and something else. It almost looked like admiration.

"I thought you were strong, now I know it"

* * *

"Who's the freak?"

She looked up from where she'd been opening and closing the butterfly knife, she'd been getting pretty good at some of the simpler opening flicks, but closing it smoothly still eluded her. An impressive opening was more important anyway. Halfway down the street the greenish tinge of Taylor's hair was obvious in the morning sun. She looked so young, happy and carefree, her tie dyed t-shirt nearly a full rainbow of colour, wrists covered in colourful and childish looking friendship bracelets.

No, no no no no, Sophia had that look, the same one she wore when looking at victims who didn't fight back, the same way she looked at prey. No, Taylor was strong, she'd been doing martial arts for as long as Emma could remember. But… She'd never really seen Taylor actually fight, she was always so passive. She'd just have to prove that she was strong, it'd be easy.

The sad, betrayed look stung, but Emma was sure that her best friend would forgive her soon, it wouldn't take long to prove that she was strong, couldn't take long at all.

* * *

The alley was clear, no one coming. She kept her eyes peeled from her shadowy perch, Sophia's hand crossbow clutched tightly. Sophia was interrogating the dealer they'd caught, all she had to do was make sure she wasn't interrupted, give her warning if someone came. Movement caught her eye, and her finger twitched convulsively in surprise.

A dull fleshy sound answered her motions, the handbow she held now unburdened by quarrel, it's string straight. The small man in red and green looked surprised, his mouth opened and closed around burbling bloody bubbles. A tiny fletched stick protruded from near the middle of his chest as he slid down the alley wall and slumped backwards, the tail end of the bolt standing like a flag from his chest.

She couldn't stop staring, didn't even move until Shadow Stalker gripped her shoulder, pulling her away from the grisly scene of her own making. Shit.. What had she done.. A friendly smile from Sophia calmed her, no, it was ok, she was a hero afterall, it was ok..

* * *

She hadn't done anything, hadn't shown the strength Sophia demanded to see. Taylor stubbornly refused to rise to the challenge they had set, almost ignoring them, making friends elsewhere in the school. No, she had to be strong, she just had to. Maybe… Maybe if they got some of the other girls involved, yeah, if Taylor couldn't make any other friends she'd have to show her strength.

Yeah, that short one, she looked more like the younger sister of a student would be perfect. Innocent looking, Emma had already seen her wheedle extra time on her assignments. She had a vicious streak too, her sharp tongue had brought Lizzy to tears all whilst keeping that sweet, innocent look on her face, like she didn't know she was causing offence. Yes, she'd be perfect. The teachers would never suspect sweet innocent Madison of anything.

* * *

It wasn't anything like on TV, just a small room with a couple of tables. The Judge asked if she swore to tell the truth, whilst holding a bible. He asked her a few questions about Sophia, Shadow Stalker, how long they'd known each other. Little things. It was easy, no one shouting, no loud exclamations, no banging gavel. It hardly felt like an official legal proceeding at all, more like a friendly chat with her agent or one of dad's work colleagues.

It didn't feel like a murder trial. She supposed it wasn't really, more a pre-trial something or other. Something that would let Shadow Stalker join the Wards, rather than waste away in Juvie. All she had to do was tell them what a nice, good person Sophia was, how she'd saved her life. She broke down slightly at the retelling. Sophia was joining the Wards. She'd gotten away with it, gotten away with murder.

* * *

The stink was terrible even through the bags, ugh, this was a terrible idea. But she had to know, somewhere along the line it had gone from getting Taylor to show her strength, to finding out how far they could push her before she struck back. It wouldn't be strength, even prey will lash out when backed into a corner afterall. Maybe this would be enough to make her lash out.

* * *

Emma watched from around the corner, waiting for just the right moment to walk past and comment, something witty maybe. She hadn't thought up anything yet, but she'd been getting better at off the cuff insults. Taylor had a look of distaste on her face as she approached the locker, entering her combination at arms length. She'd just started around the corner when Sophia stepped forwards from behind Taylor, a wicked smirk playing over her lips as she pounced on Taylor.

Or rather, tried to pounce on her, Taylor twisted as the extended arms touched her back, sidestepping the shove with ease. A heavy metalic bang announced Sophia's impact with the locker's frame. Taylor wasn't looking at Sophia though, instead she just stared at Emma with that same hurt, betrayed look. Incredulity had also leaked into her expression this time, she didn't bother closing her locker as she stalked off towards the front of the school. A flash of gold glinted from her neckline.

* * *

School had been different, the teachers keeping a closer eye on everyone. They'd had to scale back the work on Taylor, the teachers could ignore little things but the last prank had made them sit up at take notice. There'd been a special assembly where they'd been talked to about bullying, gangs and how to deal with peer pressure. She'd finally worked out how to get a reaction out of Taylor though, it was so simply in hindsight she could almost have slapped herself for not thinking of it sooner.

Maybe it was lingering respect for Annette that had stayed her hand before, it was afterall a family heirloom of some sort from what she recalled, maybe not terribly valuable, well unless it was made out of real gold. Getting to it had been a problem though, Taylor hadn't kept it in the gym lockers with her clothes during that class, nor was it in her book locker. At first she thought Taylor left it at home on the days she had PE, but that had been dispelled with a few careful observations.

Finding out where she had stashed it turned out to be harder, but getting it had been easy afterwards. Taylor entrusted it to Mrs Knott at the end of her computer class, a class neither Sophia, Madison or herself took with her. Had Mrs Knott taken it to the staff room, or kept it on her person it would have been harder to acquire, but she just stuffed it in the locking drawer of her desk.

Normally she'd not leave the classroom until after Taylor had come to recover her property, having a class to teach at the same time, or spending the time marking work. But that was easily overcome, Madison asking for help setting up a projector for a presentation had lured her out, Sophia kept watch on Taylor in the gym and Emma, well her job was easy, the keyway a cheap standard model that opened with two hairpins easily.

She swiped the bladed cross before relocking the drawer, it had taken her seconds to get it. This would get a reaction, make Taylor lash out for sure.

* * *

*CRACK*

Her head whipped round as she saw stars, fuck, it was easy to forget how damned strong Taylor was. She'd wanted her to lash out, to get a rise out of her, and she'd succeeded. Oww. Fucking hurt though.

* * *

 **The police had come, and escorted Taylor off school grounds… In handcuffs. She'd been subdued since the altercation, as if she couldn't believe she'd struck out, slapped her. Sophia had been furious, ranting to Emma about prey knowing their place. Yeah, she was right, Taylor should know better than to fight back. They'd have to show her. Well if she wasn't expelled.**

* * *

It'd been weird, downright strange without Taylor at Winslow. So much of her day had been taken up sniping, or planning pranks that Emma found herself somewhat at a loss for what to do. Maybe they should test some of the other students, she'd have to talk to Sophia about that, see what she thought. It seemed like a good idea though, weeding out the weak from the strong, the Predator from Prey.

But Taylor was back today and they had something special planned. Madison had overheard Mr Gladdy talking about some makeup tests Taylor would be taking all day today, something to do with assignment irregularities in what she'd been handing in during her suspension. It didn't matter why they were testing her, only they it represented an opportunity to put her back in her place as Sophia said. Emma was conflicted, why couldn't Taylor be strong, why did she abandon her like this. She had to push more. The real Taylor would push back, know it was for her own good. She was sure of it.

Madison came out of the classroom, trailed closely by the school secretary a dark look on her face. What was going on, why didn't she had the tests? Her hands suddenly found themselves clutching nothing but air. No. Shit.

* * *

The temporary Principal wasn't intimidated by her father, hadn't buckled under his thinly veiled threats of legal action. She'd been deputy at Arcadia, some parents had tried using the court system to get their kids places there a few years ago, it'd been thrown out of court. Much like her own case would be if it ever came to that. Her father grudgingly accepted her punishment for her, shooting her a warning look when she made to speak.

A week's suspension wasn't that bad though, more like an extra holiday really.

* * *

She lay in bed looking at the pendant she'd taken from Taylor again, the bladed cross extending from a smaller golden sphere, a hollow circle halfway along the length of the bladed arms. She'd never really seen anything like it elsewhere, even checking online.

Sophia wanted to smash it, or melt it down and sell it, but she'd kept it instead. Guilt gnawed at her gut, she couldn't get rid of this, couldn't damage something Annette had given Taylor. She felt guilty for ignoring Sophia. She knew Taylor could be strong, she just knew it. That slap had proved it, hadn't it?

No, she couldn't damage it, couldn't sell it, she'd keep it safe. For Taylor, for when she was strong, strong like her. She stuffed the golden pendant back into it's hiding place.

"Don't worry Taylor, I'll keep it safe for you, please get strong, please" Her eyes drifted closed as she dreamed of Taylor, her and Sophia, going out and beating up Asians in Red and Green, a soft chime whispering through her darkened room.


	13. Chapter 13

School without the trio wasn't half as bad as it was with, classes were still far too easy, but without the trio pushing the rest of the school were mostly content to leave Taylor alone. The fact that they were all suspended probably helped, the aura of invisiblity had been shattered, no longer certain that they could get away with anything. It honestly felt strange not to be dodging attacks from various angles, not fending off grasping hands after her classwork. Not being followed by the wave of whispers and snide comments, well that hadn't entirely ceased, but it was less controlled, less focused.

But even if the trio had gotten away with their old tricks Taylor felt like she might hardly notice, her mind drifting elsewhere. The endbringer attack, the damage to her mother's device, to the phantom feeling of soft lips touching her own. It was all muddled together in her mind, distracting from the change that had taken over the school in her absence and with her return.

She felt conflicted and confused, the date had been nice, good even and she'd had a lot of fun just spending time with Amy. No, she wasn't confused or conflicted about the date itself, but more the end of the date. She'd put Amy down somewhat clumsily and had to steady her as she found her feet, then they were standing so close, the heat of her breath and scent of popcorn subtle and sweet on her breath. She wasn't sure which of them had leaned in, maybe they both had, but she'd ended up hesitantly tilting her head, eyes fluttering closed.

Soft and warm, buttery and sweet from the popcorn. Her first kiss. A light drizzle of rain dusting and discouraging continuation. It was sweet, it was exhilarating, she couldn't imagine a more perfect first kiss. So why did she feel so conflicted, why did it feel, off, wrong. Was she really straight afterall? She tried to imagine kissing a boy in the same way, a wash of guilt and mild disinterest flowed over her. No, probably not straight.

This was why Emma's betrayal hurt, why the bullying campaign was so devastating. She was already set apart from her classmates by her intelligence, but the campaign had prevented her from really making any connections, even tentative friendships amongst her peers. Other girls had friends to talk to, she imagined this would be just the sort of thing she'd talk to friends about. Hmm.. Maybe not, it might be weird talking about liking a girl to other girls. Being gay wasn't as unusual or remarked as it might have been ten years ago, but that still didn't make it _normal._

Mr Gladdy was frowning as he looked at her, like it was her fault that his favourite students had been suspended.

"Ahh Taylor, I'll see you after class"

His tone was firmer than he'd usually use in class, a tone he reserved for troublemakers and the unpopular. Greg was a frequent recipient of the tone, but Taylor had only felt its touch a few times, when the trio stole and then returned her classwork, getting her in trouble for copying was the last time she'd had it directed at her.

 **The class should have been more interesting, world economics and trade since the emergence of the endbringers, and how it differed from before monsters walked the earth. It was surprising how much international trade still existed, millions of tonnes of cargo flowed from one nation to another each year, though the numbers appear small compared to Earth-Aleph's robust international trade routes. Most of the trade reduction wasn't directly stopped by endbringers, but more caused by the aftermath of their attacks.**

Whole cities quarantined, flooded, or burnt into radioactive ash. It had a huge impact on global population and unsurprisingly birth rates. Parahumanity's rise had not been kind to the rest of the species, Earth-Bet had less than half the population of her sister world. Many nations had suffered, some smaller ones had even come fully under parahuman sway. War might be less common here, but the number of parahuman lead states, dictatorships and other non-democratically ran states was higher.

The bell saved them from the frankly depressing topic, a rush of bodies and chattering almost drowned out the suggested reading, not that Mr Gladdy ever really bothered to test them on it. Not really. He'd always given a warning before he sprung a test on his classes, never wanting to be the uncool teacher, always trying to be a friend rather than a teacher. It wasn't an awful teaching style, except he focused on the popular crowd, always had time for them and their problems. Not quite so much for the loners, the uncool kids, the bullied, pretty much everyone that actually needed a friendly teacher helping them would be passed over to gain praise from a track star, or junior model.

Soon the classroom had cleared, desks and chairs slightly askew giving the room and air of disorder and abandonment far longer than the dozen or so seconds it had been since it cleared. Mr Gladdy was at his desk, rifling through a small stack of papers, her test papers if she recognised the page correctly.

"Taylor, I had my doubts before when I was grading the work you were turning in during your suspension, now I'm certain. I don't know how you did it, but I simply can't allow such flagrant cheating to pass, I'm going to have to mark you as failing the class this semester"

What. The. Fuck!

More words spilled forth, but she wasn't even listening anymore. Taylor stood and marched towards the main office. She knew it was too good to be true, that she'd managed to catch you, prove that she was more intelligent than her previously sabotaged work indicated. She'd been in a gifted students program before she'd started at Winslow, was bound for early college like her other before her. Now, now that same intellect was branding her a cheat.

"..see here young lady…"

The office lay ahead of her, a red faced teacher lay behind, she knocked before simply letting herself into the outer office area.

"...around me…"

The poor facsimile of an educator moved ahead of her to speak in hushed tones to the receptionist, the very same one that had watched her take the multitude of tests only a few days since. Her expression closing off as he spoke more at length before she waved him off to fiddle with the intercom.

The substitute Principal, a bottle blonde with unfortunate facial structure, Ms Howell was nominally deputy Principal at Arcadia, strode into the outer office, her well tailored suit tidy but no longer immaculate as it had been earlier in the week. A sheen of inexpertly applied makeup concealed bags hung under each eye.

Mr Gladdy disappeared into the inner office with the interim Principal, his face settled into the smooth cool expression he usually wore. What was wrong with him, seriously, she'd been watched throughout her test taking, there was no way she could have cheated. Double so given her workload that morning, even if the tests had been multiple choice, which only two were, she'd have been hard pressed to memorise just answer keys to any two of them, let alone the number she'd taken that day.

The red haze that had been slowly descending on her started to lift, Mr Gladdy had picked a poor battlefield for whatever vendetta motivated him. The current administrator was already sympathetic to her plight, had seen the number of tests she'd been instructed to take by the absent administrator. Better still, she'd recognised Taylor, the young genius, so far ahead that Arcadia had offered her a place halfway through her previous schooling.

No, this wouldn't go well for him, not at all.


End file.
